1.
Welsh language
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Welsh is a member of the Brittonic branch of the Celtic languages. It is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, historically it has also been known in English as the British tongue, Cambrian, Cambric and Cymric. The United Kingdom Census 2011 counted 3.1 million residents of Wales, 27% of whom had been born outside Wales, and 73% of whom reported having no Welsh language skills. Of residents of Wales aged three and over, 19% reported being able to speak Welsh, and 77% of these were able to speak, read and this can be compared with the 2001 Census, in which 20. 8% of the population reported being able to speak Welsh. 787,854 of residents in Wales aged three and over had one or more skills in Welsh, in surveys carried out between 2004 and 2006, 57% of Welsh speakers described themselves as fluent in the written language. An estimated 110,000 to 150,000 people speak Welsh in England, Welsh emerged in the 6th century from Common Brittonic, the common ancestor of Welsh, Breton, Cornish and the extinct language known as Cumbric. The Middle Welsh period is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, the name Welsh originated as an exonym given to its speakers by the Anglo-Saxons, meaning foreign speech. The native term for the language is Cymraeg, and for the name of the country of Wales it is Cymru, Welsh evolved from Common Brittonic, the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Celtic Britons. Classified as Insular Celtic, the British language probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and was spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth. During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, evolving into Welsh and it is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Kenneth H. Jackson suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern was complete by around 550, Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to the Cynfeirdd or Early Poets – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was composed in the Hen Ogledd, raising further questions about the dating of the material. An 8th century inscription in Tywyn shows the language already dropping inflections in the declension of nouns, the next main period, somewhat better attested, is Old Welsh, poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of the language. Both the works of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin were in this era, Middle Welsh is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts, Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible, albeit with some work, to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The famous cleric Gerald of Wales tells, in his Descriptio Cambriae, during one of the Kings many raids in the 12th century, Henry asked an old man of Pencader, Carmarthenshire whether the Welsh people could resist his army

2.
Ten-pin bowling
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Ten-pin bowling is a game in which a player rolls a bowling ball down a wood-structure or synthetic lane and towards ten pins positioned at the end of the lane. The objective is to score points by knocking down as many pins as possible, three finger holes are drilled into a traditional bowling ball, and weights vary considerably to make the sport playable for all ages. The pins are arranged in a position by an automated machine. While professional ten-pin bowling tournaments are held in countries, the sport is commonly played as a hobby by millions of people around the world. In Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, the 41. 5-inch-wide, 60-foot-long lane is bordered along its length by semicylindrical channels called gutters, which are designed to collect errant balls. The overall width of the lane including the channels is 60 1⁄8 inches, the narrow lane prevents bowling a straight line at the angle required to consistently carry all ten pins for a strike. Most skillful bowlers will roll a side spinning ball to overcome this, a foul line is marked at the seam of the start of the lane and end of the approach. If any part of a bowlers body touches the line itself or beyond after the ball is delivered, the bowl is a foul and any pins knocked over by that delivery are scored as zero. The bowler is allowed one shot at a new rack of ten pins if s/he fouled on the first roll of a frame, behind the foul line is an approach approximately 15 feet long used to gain speed and leverage on the ball before delivering it. The bowler is allowed 10 frames in which to knock down pins, the tenth frame is composed of up to three rolls, the bonus roll following a strike or spare in the tenth are fill ball used only to calculate the score of the mark rolled in the tenth. If neither a strike nor a spare is achieved in the tenth frame, Bowling has a unique scoring system which keeps track not only of the current pinfall in a frame, but also strikes and spares which allow for the value of subsequent pinfall. Effectively, there are three kinds of marks given in a score, a strike, a spare, and an open, a strike earns ten points plus the points for the next two balls thrown. A spare earns ten points plus the points for the ball thrown. Open frames count the value of the pinfall in that frame only, the maximum score in ten-pin bowling is 300. This consists of getting 12 strikes in a row in one game, very shortly before the reign of Narmer, one of the very first Egyptian pharaohs. Their discovery represents the earliest known trace of bowling. Others claim that originated in Germany around 300 A. D. as part of a religious ritual in which people would roll stones at clubs to absolve themselves of sins. A site in Southampton, England claims to be the oldest lawn bowling site still in operation, the first written reference to bowling dates to 1366, when King Edward III of England banned his troops from playing it so that they could focus more on their archery practice

3.
Llanelli
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The town is famous for its proud rugby tradition and is a centre of tinplate production. Llanelli is surrounded by a number of villages and communities in the Llanelli Rural district, some of these communities, especially ones that immediately surround the town, are often unofficially referred to as Llanelli. In many respects, Llanelli represents a continuation of the Newport-Cardiff-Swansea metropolitan belt into the more rural West of Wales, the spelling Llanelly is an anglicised form which was used until 1966, after which it was changed following a local public campaign. This is evident in the name of the historic building. It can also lead to confusion with the village and parish, Llanelly, the town lies on the River Lliedi, although much of the river is not visible, especially in the town centre, where the river is underneath the town. Historically a mining town, Llanelli grew significantly in the 18th century and 19th century with the mining of coal and later the tinplate industry, many of these industries were served by the Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway which opened in 1803. Llanelli became such a significant regional producer of tin that it was referred to as Tinopolis by the half of the 19th century. The closure of mines and competition from overseas steel plants meant that Llanelli, like many other towns in southern Wales, saw significant. People from Llanelli are sometimes nicknamed Turks, the origin of this name is uncertain. One theory is that many Turkish sailors once called at the port of Llanelli during their voyages, Llanelli has hosted the National Eisteddfod six times, in 1895,1903,1930,1962,2000 and 2014. In the mid-20th century, Llanelli was the largest town in the world more than half the population spoke a Celtic language. It is ranked the 7th largest urban area in Wales, according to the 2011 UK Census returns,23. 7% of Llanelli town residents could speak the Welsh language. During the 1950s, Trefor and Eileen Beasley campaigned to get Llanelli Rural Council to distribute tax papers in Welsh by refusing to pay taxes until their demand was met, the council reacted by sending in the bailiffs and selling their furniture to recover the money owed. The Beasleys neighbours bought the furniture and returned it to them, the council finally reversed this policy during the 1960s when they accepted that the Welsh language should be equal with the English language. In 1991 Llanelli was a distinct Travel to Work Area, the area around Llanelli in eastern Carmarthenshire is home to a number of manufacturing companies, many of which service the automotive industry. The Technium Performance Engineering Centre was developed at Llanelli Gate as an incubator for businesses in the automotive, motorsport. The core shopping area has now relocated from the town centre to the Trostre/Pemberton area. Llanelli has a tradition, with the Felinfoel Brewery in Felinfoel

4.
Carmarthenshire
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Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south-west of Wales and is the largest of the thirteen historic counties of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford, Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre of Carmarthenshire, but the most populous settlement is Llanelli. Carmarthenshire has been inhabited since prehistoric times, the town of Carmarthen was founded by the Romans, and the region was part of the Principality of Deheubarth during the High Middle Ages. It saw turbulent times during the invasion by the Normans in the 12th and 13h centuries before it was subjugated, along other parts of Wales. There was further unrest in the early 15th century when the Welsh rebelled under Owain Glyndŵr, Carmarthenshire is mainly an agricultural county, apart from the southeastern part which at one time was heavily industrialised with coal mining, steel-making and tin-plating. In the north of the county the woollen industry was important in the 18th century. Nowadays the economy of the county depends on agriculture, forestry, fishing, with the decline in its industrial base and the low profitability of the livestock sector, Carmarthenshire is economically one of the worst-performing regions in the United Kingdom. Although Carmarthenshire is less frequented as a tourist destination than some other counties in Wales, further west are the sandy beaches at Llansteffan and Pendine, and Dylan Thomas boathouse at Laugharne. Further inland there are a number of castles, hillforts. Humans have been living in Carmarthenshire since at least 40,000 years ago as evidenced by stone tools found in Coygan Cave, near Laugharne. The Romans established two forts in South Wales, one at Caerwent to control the southeast of the country, the fort at Carmarthen dates from around 75 AD, and there is a Roman amphitheatre nearby, so this probably makes Carmarthen the oldest continually occupied town in Wales. Carmarthenshire has its roots in the region formerly known as Ystrad Tywi and part of the Principality of Deheubarth during the High Middle Ages. After the Normans had subjugated England they tried to subdue Wales, Carmarthenshire was disputed between the Normans and the Welsh lords and many of the castles built around this time, first of wood and then stone, changed hands several times. Following the Conquest of Wales by Edward I, the region was reorganized by the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 into Carmarthenshire. Edward I made Carmarthen the capital of new county, establishing his courts of chancery and his exchequer there. The Normans transformed Carmarthen into a trading port, the only staple port in Wales. Merchants imported food and French wines and exported wool, pelts, leather, lead, Carmarthen was particularly susceptible to plague as it was brought in by flea-infested rats on board ships from southern France. In 1405, Owain Glyndŵr captured Carmarthen Castle and several other strongholds in the neighbourhood, however, when his support dwindled, the principal men of the county returned their allegiance to King Henry V

5.
Sport Wales
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Sport Wales is the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales. Working alongside partners such as governing bodies of sport and local authorities, they aim to encourage sporting ambitions in the young and they are the main adviser on sporting matters to the Welsh Government and are responsible for distributing National Lottery funds to both elite and grassroots sport in Wales. In 2016, Dr Paul Thomas was appointed as a new Chair, however both chairman and deputy were sacked by the Welsh Government in March 2017 due to concerns that the organisation had become dysfunctional. The Sport Wales National Centre was established in 1972 to provide facilities to help develop Welsh sport and it is the national sports centre for Wales and is part of a network of facilities aiming to ensure Wales is able to compete on the international stage. The Centre has indoor sports halls, next to Glamorgan CCCs SWALEC Stadium in Sophia Gardens, Sports activities in the Main Hall include gymnastics, table tennis, trampoline, badminton, netball, basketball, archery, martial arts, fencing, dance and boxing. The site also contains squash courts and weight training rooms, outdoors, the Institute has an international standard permeable artificial pitch, which is one of the home international venues for Welsh hockey. The pitch is used for lacrosse and football. Their outdoor tennis courts are used for netball and five-a-side football. Owned and operated by Sport Wales, the Institute supports national governing bodies of sport, several of the countrys multi-sport agencies have their headquarters at the Sport Wales National Centre. Including the Welsh Sports Association the National Governing Bodies Coaches, the Federation of Disability Sport Wales, Governing bodies of sports in Wales with their headquarters at the Sport Wales National Centre include Basketball Wales, Welsh Judo Association, Welsh Gymnastics, Welsh Hockey and Squash Wales. Plas Menai is the National Watersports Centre for Wales, a watersports centre on the Menai Strait, Gwynedd. Watersports courses available at the Centre, which includes a complex, include canoeing, cruising. The centre is also the headquarters of the Welsh Yachting Association, the Welsh Yachting Association is jointly funded by Sport Wales and the Royal Yachting Association. Sailing clubs in Wales are members of the RYA and, as individuals must join the RYA to race, to feed the RYA GBR performance pathway, and ultimately Team GBR2012 and beyond. Wales contributed 10 -15% to the Great Britain Olympic Sailing Squads in 2008, Plas Menai is owned and run by Sport Wales. National Lottery funding has been invested into these facilities, the 2008 Olympic Games was the most successful for any Welsh contingent in 100 years. More than 25% of the Great Britain Paralympic teams gold medal haul in Beijing came from Welsh sportsmen and women, the latest piece of the jigsaw is a National Centre of Excellence for rugby. Sport Wales website Plas Menai website

6.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh

7.
History of Wales
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The history of Wales begins with the arrival of human beings in the region thousands of years ago. Neanderthals lived in what is now Wales, or Cymru in Welsh, at least 230,000 years ago, while Homo sapiens arrived by about 31,000 BC. However, continuous habitation by humans dates from the period after the end of the last ice age around 9000 BC, and Wales has many remains from the Mesolithic, Neolithic. During the Iron Age the region, like all of Britain south of the Firth of Forth, was dominated by the Celtic Britons, the Romans departed from Britain in the 5th century, opening the door for the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Thereafter Brittonic language and culture began to splinter, and several groups formed. The Welsh people were the largest of groups, and are generally discussed independently of the other surviving Brittonic-speaking peoples after the 11th century. A number of kingdoms formed in present-day Wales in the post-Roman period, internecine struggles and external pressure from the English and later, the Norman conquerors of England, led to the Welsh kingdoms coming gradually under the sway of the English crown. The Welsh launched several revolts against English rule, the last significant one being led by Owain Glyndŵr in the early 15th century. In the 16th century Henry VIII, himself of Welsh extraction as a grandson of Owen Tudor. Under Englands authority, Wales became part of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707, yet, the Welsh retained their language and culture in spite of heavy English dominance. The publication of the significant first complete Welsh translation of the Bible by William Morgan in 1588 greatly advanced the position of Welsh as a literary language. Wales played a full and willing role in World War One, the industries of Empire in Wales declined in the 20th century with the end of the British Empire following the Second World War, while nationalist sentiment and interest in self-determination rose. The Labour Party replaced the Liberal Party as the dominant political force in the 1940s, the nationalist party Plaid Cymru gained short lived momentum in the 1960s. In a 1997 referendum Welsh voters approved the devolution of responsibility to a National Assembly for Wales. The Red Lady of Paviland, a human skeleton dyed in red ochre, was discovered in 1823 in one of the Paviland limestone caves of the Gower Peninsula in Swansea, South Wales. Despite the name, the skeleton is that of a man who lived about 33,000 years ago at the end of the Upper Paleolithic Period. He is considered to be the oldest known burial in Western Europe. The skeleton was found along with jewellery made from ivory and seashells, following the last ice age, Wales became roughly the shape it is today by about 8000 BC and was inhabited by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers

8.
Prehistoric Wales
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However, studies of population genetics now suggest that this may not be true, and that immigration was on a smaller scale. The earliest known human remains discovered in modern-day Wales date from 230,000 years ago. Excavations of the site in between 1978 and 1995 revealed a further 17 teeth belonging to five individuals, a total of seven hand axes and some animal bones, some of which show signs of butchery. This site is the most north-westerly in Eurasia at which the remains of hominids have been found. Late Neanderthal hand axes were found at Coygan Cave, Carmarthenshire and have been dated to between 60,000 and 35,000 years old. The Paviland limestone caves of the Gower Peninsula in south Wales are by far the richest source of Aurignacian material in Britain, including burins, the first remains of modern humans, Homo sapiens sapiens to be found in Wales was the famous Red Lady of Paviland. This was a human skeleton dyed in red ochre discovered in 1823 in one of the Paviland caves, despite the name, the skeleton is actually that of a young man who lived about 33,000 years ago at the end of the Upper Paleolithic Period. He is considered to be the oldest known burial in Western Europe. The skeleton was found along with fragments of small cylindrical ivory rods, fragments of ivory bracelets, settlement in Wales was apparently intermittent as periods of cooling and warming led to the ice sheets advancing and retreating. Wales appears to have been abandoned from about 21,000 years ago until after 13,000 years ago, following the last Ice age, Wales became roughly the shape it is today by about 7000 BC and was inhabited by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Wales has many sites where Mesolithic material has found. The earliest dated Mesolithic site in Wales is Nab Head, Pembrokeshire, many of the sites from this period are coastal, although 9,000 years ago they would have been some distance inland from the sea. There is a concentration in Pembrokeshire, but there are also a good number of upland sites, most apparently seasonal hunting locations. Some decorated pebbles found at Rhuddlan represent the earliest art found in Wales, the earliest farming communities are now believed to date from about 4000 BC, marking the beginning of the Neolithic period. Pollen evidence indicates the clearing of forests on an increasing scale during this period, the Neolithic saw the construction of many chambered tombs, the most notable including Bryn Celli Ddu and Barclodiad y Gawres on Anglesey. Megalithic tombs are most common in the western lowlands, there is evidence of close cultural links with Ireland, particularly in the Early Neolithic period. A number of houses from the Neolithic period have also found in Wales. Many artefacts have also found, particularly polished stone axeheads

9.
Wales in the Roman era
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The history of Wales in the Roman era began in 48 AD with a military invasion by the imperial governor of Roman Britain. The conquest would be completed by 78, and Roman rule would endure until the region was abandoned in AD383, once the conquest was complete, the region and the people living there would be a virtually anonymous part of Roman Britain until the Roman departure. The only town in Wales founded by the Romans, Caerwent, is located in South Wales and it is the Roman campaigns of conquest that are most widely known, due to the spirited but unsuccessful defence of their homelands by two native tribes, the Silures and the Ordovices. Aside from the many Roman-related finds along the southern coast, Roman archaeological remains in Wales consist almost entirely of military roads and they controlled most of the islands centers of wealth, as well as much of its trade and resources. In Wales the known tribes included the Ordovices and Deceangli in the north, apart from this we have little knowledge of the Welsh tribes of this era. In AD47 or 48 the new governor, Publius Ostorius Scapula, moved against the Deceangli along the northeastern coast of Wales, devastating their lands. He campaigned successfully but indecisively against the Silures and then the Ordovices, Scapula died in 52, the same year that the resurgent Silures inflicted a defeat on one of the Roman legions. Scapula was succeeded by a number of governors who made steady, gaius Suetonius Paulinus was in the process of conquering Anglesey in AD60 when the revolt led by Boudica in the east forced a delay in the final conquest of Wales. There followed a decade of peace while Roman imperial attention was focused elsewhere. The main fort in their territory was at Moridunum, built around AD75, the Demetae are the only pre-Roman Welsh tribe that would emerge from Roman rule with their tribal name intact. The mineral wealth of Britain was well-known prior to the Roman invasion and was one of the benefits of conquest. All mineral extractions were state-sponsored and under control, as mineral rights belonged to the emperor. His agents soon found substantial deposits of gold, copper, and lead in Wales, along with some zinc and silver. Gold was mined at Dolaucothi prior to the invasion, but Roman engineering would be applied to increase the amount extracted. This would continue until the process was no practical or profitable. While these efforts have not produced results, the benefits to Rome were substantial. The gold production at Dolaucothi alone may have been of economic significance, the production of goods for trade and export in Roman Britain was concentrated in the south and east, with virtually none situated in Wales. Glass-making sites were located in or near urban centres, in Wales none of the needed materials were available in suitable combination, and the forested, mountainous countryside was not amenable to this kind of industrialisation

10.
Wales in the Early Middle Ages
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Wales in the early Middle Ages covers the time between the Roman departure from Wales c.383 and the rise of Merfyn Frych to the throne of Gwynedd c. In that time there was a consolidation of power into increasingly hierarchical kingdoms. Successful unification into something recognisable as a Welsh state would come in the era under the descendants of Merfyn Vrych. Wales was rural throughout the era, characterised by small settlements called trefi, the local landscape was controlled by a local aristocracy and ruled by a warrior aristocrat. Control was exerted over a piece of land and, by extension, many of the people were tenant peasants or slaves, answerable to the aristocrat who controlled the land on which they lived. There was no sense of a coherent tribe of people and everyone, from ruler down to slave, was defined in terms of his or her kindred family and individual status. Christianity had been introduced in the Roman era, and the Celtic Britons living in, the seventh and eighth centuries were characterised by ongoing warfare by the northern and eastern Welsh kingdoms against the intruding Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia. The total area of Wales is 20,779 km2, or 9% of the area of Great Britain, much of the landscape is mountainous with treeless moors and heath, and having large areas with peat deposits. There is approximately 1,200 km of coastline and some 50 offshore islands, the southeastern coast was originally a wetland, but reclamation has been ongoing since the Roman era. There are deposits of gold, copper, lead, silver and zinc, in the Roman era some granite was quarried, as was slate in the north and sandstone in the east and south. Native fauna included large and small mammals, such as the bear, wolf, wildcat, rodents, several species of weasel. There were many species of birds, fish and shellfish, the early medieval human population has always been considered relatively low in comparison to England, but efforts to reliably quantify it have yet to provide widely acceptable results. Much of the land is in the south, southeast, southwest, on Anglesey. However, specifying the ancient usage of land is problematic in that there is surviving evidence on which to base the estimates. Anglesey is the exception, historically producing more grain than any part of Wales. Animal husbandry included the raising of cattle, pigs, sheep, oxen were kept for ploughing, asses for beasts of burden and horses for human transport. The importance of sheep was less than in later centuries, as their extensive grazing in the uplands did not begin until the thirteenth century, the animals were tended by swineherds and herdsmen, but they were not confined, even in the lowlands. Instead open land was used for feeding, and seasonal transhumance was practiced, in addition, bees were kept for the production of honey

11.
Kingdom of Gwynedd
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The Principality or Kingdom of Gwynedd was one of several successor states to the Roman Empire that emerged in sub-Roman Britain in the 5th century during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. Based in northwest Wales, the rulers of Gwynedd repeatedly rose to preeminence and were acclaimed as King of the Britons before losing their power in civil wars or invasions and that realm lasted until the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1283. The sons of their leader, Cunedda, were said to have possessed the land between the rivers Dee and Teifi, the modern preserved county of Gwynedd and principal area of Gwynedd are both somewhat smaller. The 5th-century Cantiorix Inscription now in Penmachno church seems to be the earliest record of the name and it is in memory of a man named Cantiorix and the Latin inscription is Cantiorix hic iacit/Venedotis cives fuit/consobrinos Magli magistrati, Cantiorix lies here. He was a citizen of Gwynedd and a cousin of Maglos the magistrate, the use of terms such as citizen and magistrate maybe cited as evidence that Romano-British culture and institutions continued in Gwynedd long after the legions had withdrawn. As early as the 2nd century, there may have been an Irish presence in the region as Ptolemy marks the Llŷn Peninsula as the Promontory of the Gangani which is also a name he recorded in Ireland, the region became known as Venedotia in Latin. The name was attributed to a specific Irish colony on Anglesey. According to traditional pedigrees, Cuneddas grandfather was Padarn Beisrudd, Paternus of the red cloak, nennius recounts how Cunedda brought order to North Wales and after his death Gwynedd was divided among his sons, Dynod was awarded Dunoding, another son Ceredig received Ceredigion, and so forth. According to Professor John Davies, here is a determinedly Brythonic, nevertheless, there was generally quick abandonment of Roman political, social, and ecclesiastical practices and institutions within Gwynedd and elsewhere in Wales. These early petty kings or princelings adopted the title rhi in Welsh, later replaced by brenin, genealogical lists compiled around 960 bear out that a number of these early rulers claimed degrees of association with the old Roman order, but do not appear in the official royal lineages. It may be assumed that the stronger kings annexed the territories of their weaker neighbors, other evidence supports Nenniuss claim that a leader came to north Wales and brought the region a measure of stability, although an Irish Gaelic element remained until the mid-5th century. During that peace he established a mighty kingdom, after Cadwallon, Gwynedd appears to have held a pre-eminent position amongst the petty Cambrian states in the post-Roman period. The great-grandson of Cunedda, Maelgwn Hir Maelgwn the Tall, was one of the most famous leaders in Welsh history, there are several legends about his life concerning miracles performed either by him or in his presence. Maelgwn was curiously described as the dragon of the island by Gildas which was possibly a title, Maelgwn eventually died in 547 from the plague leaving a succession crisis in his wake. His son in law, Elidyr Mwynfawr of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, claimed the throne and invaded Gwynedd to displace Maelgwns son, Elidyr was killed in the attempt but his death was then avenged by his relatives who ravaged the coast of Arfon. Rhun counter-attacked and exacted the same penalty on the lands of his foes in what is now central Scotland, Rhun returned to Gwynedd and the rest of his reign was far less eventful. He was succeeded by his son, Beli ap Rhun in c, on the accession of Belis son Iago ap Beli in c. 599, the situation in Britain had deteriorated significantly, most of the area today called northern England and been overrun by the invading Angles of Deira and Bernicia who were in the process of forming the Kingdom of Northumbria

12.
Kingdom of Powys
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The Kingdom of Powys was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the top two thirds of the county of Powys and part of the east midlands. The fertile river valleys of the Severn and Tern are found here, the name Powys is thought to derive from Latin pagus the countryside and pagenses dwellers in the countryside, also the origins of French pays and English peasant. During the Roman Empire, this region was organised into a Roman province, with the capital at Viroconium Cornoviorum, an entry in the Annales Cambriae concerning the death of King Cadell ap Brochfael says that the land later called Powys was originally known as Ternyllwg. Throughout the Early Middle Ages, Powys was ruled by the Gwerthrynion dynasty, a family claiming descent jointly from the marriage of Vortigern and Princess Sevira, the daughter of Magnus Maximus. Archaeological evidence has shown that, unusually for the period, Viroconium Cornoviorum survived as an urban centre well into the 6th century. The Historia Brittonum, written around AD828, records the town as Caer Guricon, in the following centuries, the Powys eastern border was encroached upon by English settlers from the emerging Anglian territory of Mercia. This was a process, and English control in the West Midlands was uncertain until the late 8th century. In 549 the Plague of Justinian - an outbreak of a strain of bubonic plague - arrived in Britain, however, the English were less affected by this plague as they had far fewer trading contacts with the continent at this time. In 616, the armies of Æthelfrith of Northumbria clashed with Powys, seeing an opportunity to further drive a wedge between the North Welsh and those of Rheged, Æthelfrith invaded Powys northern lands. Æthelfrith forced a battle near Chester and defeated Selyf and his allies, if King Cynddylan of Pengwern hailed from the royal Powys dynasty, then forces from Powys may also have been present at the Battle of Maes Cogwy in 642. However, this account is now thought to represent ninth-century imaginings of what must have been going on in the seventh. Powys enjoyed a resurgence with successful campaigns against the English in 655, 705-707 and 722, the court was moved to Mathrafal Castle in the valley of the river Vyrnwy by 717, possibly by king Elisedd ap Gwylog. Elisedds successes led King Æthelbald of Mercia to build Wats Dyke and this endeavour may have been with Elisedds own agreement, however, for this boundary, extending north from the Severn valley to the Dee estuary, gave Oswestry to Powys. King Offa of Mercia seems to have continued this consultive initiative when he created an earth work. Davies wrote of Cyril Foxs study of Offas Dyke, In the planning of it, there was a degree of consultation with the kings of Powys and Gwent. And for Gwent Offa had the dyke built on the eastern crest of the gorge, clearly with the intention of recognizing that the river Wye and its traffic belonged to the kingdom of Gwent. This new border moved Oswestry back to the English side of the new frontier, and Offa attacked Powys in 760 at Hereford, and again on 778,784 and 796

13.
Deheubarth
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Deheubarth was a regional name for the realms of south Wales, particularly as opposed to Gwynedd. In the oldest British writers, Deheubarth was used for all of modern Wales to distinguish it from Y Gogledd or Hen Ogledd, the northern lands whence Cunedda and the Cymry originated. Deheubarth was united around 920 by Hywel Dda out of the territories of Seisyllwg and Dyfed, later on, the Kingdom of Brycheiniog was also added. Caerleon was previously the court of the area, but Hywels dynasty fortified and built up a new base at Dinefwr, near Llandeilo. After the high-water mark set by Hywel, Dinefwr was repeatedly overrun. First, by the Welsh of the north and east, by Llywelyn ap Seisyll of Gwynedd in 1018, by Rhydderch ab Iestyn of Morgannwg in 1023, in 1075, Rhys ab Owain and the noblemen of Ystrad Tywi succeeded in treacherously killing their English-backed overlord Bleddyn ap Cynfyn. In 1093, Rhys was killed in unknown circumstances while resisting their expansion into Brycheiniog, following the death of Henry I in 1136, Gruffydd formed an alliance with Gwynedd for the purpose of a revolt against Norman incursions. He took part in Owain Gwynedd and Cadwaladr ap Gruffydds victory over the English at Crug Mawr, the newly liberated region of Ceredigion, though, was not returned to his family but annexed by Owain. On his death in 1197, though, Rhys redivided his kingdom among his several sons, by the time Llywelyn the Great won the wars in Gwynedd, in the late 12th century, lords in Deheubarth merely appear among his clients. Following the conquest of Wales by Edward I, the South was divided into the counties of Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire by the Statute of Rhuddlan. In the arena of the church, Sulien was the leader of the community at Llanbadarn Fawr in Ceredigion. 1030, he became Bishop of St Davids in 1073 and again in 1079/80, both of his sons followed him into the service of the church. At this time the prohibition against the marriage of clerics was not yet established and his sons produced a number of manuscripts and original Latin and vernacular poems. They were very active in the ecclesiastical and political life of Deheubarth, one son, Rhygyfarch of Llanbadarn Fawr, wrote the Life of Saint David and another, Ieuan, was a skillful scribe and illuminator. He copied some the works of Augustine of Hippo and may have written the Life of St. Padarn, goronwy Foel House of Dinefwr List of Welsh kings The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. Cardiff, University of Wales Press,2008 ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6 Deheubarth at Castle Wales

14.
Cyfraith Hywel
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Cyfraith Hywel, also known as Welsh law, was the system of law practised in medieval Wales before its final conquest by England. Subsequently, the Welsh laws criminal codes were superseded by the Statute of Rhuddlan in AD1284, Welsh law was a form of Celtic law with many similarities to the Brehon law of Ireland and particularly the customs and terminology of the Britons of Strathclyde. It was passed down orally by jurists and bards and, according to tradition, the earliest surviving manuscripts, however, are in Latin, date from the early 13th century, and show marked regional differences. The laws include the laws of the court, the laying down the obligations and entitlements of the king and the officers of his court. Within each of these there are tracts of varying length dealing with different subjects, for example the law of women. Civil law differed from most other codes of law in the rule that on a landowners death his land was to be shared equally between his sons, legitimate and illegitimate and this caused conflict with the church, as under canon law illegitimate children could not inherit. Once a case came to court, the used to come to a decision was usually by compurgation. The number of compurgators required depended on the nature of the case, the judge or judges would then come to a decision. Capital punishment was prescribed for a small number of crimes. Most other offences were punished by a fine, most of the surviving manuscripts of Welsh law start with a preamble explaining how the laws were codified by Hywel. The introduction to the Book of Blegywryd is an example, Hywel the Good, son of Cadell, by the grace of God. Summoned to him from every commote of his six men who were practised in authority. To the place called the White House on the Taf in Dyfed, as each of the manuscripts dates from centuries later than Hywel’s time, this statement cannot be used to date the event described above. In discussing Hywel’s association with the law, K. L, on the other hand, the Iorwerth versions, produced in Gwynedd, have exactly the same attribution of the law to Hywel and the council at Whitland as do the southern versions. It is more likely that Hywel’s name was used to some form of “ancestral authority to the laws. The best that may be said of Hywel’s association with the law is that a folk memory recalled a revision and rejuvenation of the law during his reign. Other kings are said to have introduced later modifications to the laws, for example Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, king of Gwynedd, some of the legal material, such as the tract on the Seven Bishop Houses of Dyfed, may be dated to a very early period of law. Other material bears comparison with Early Irish Law, there has been some debate among scholars as to whether the laws were originally written in Welsh or Latin

15.
Conquest of Wales by Edward I of England
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The Conquest of Wales by Edward I, sometimes referred to as the Edwardian Conquest of Wales, took place between 1277 and 1283. It resulted in the defeat and annexation of the Principality of Wales, by the 13th century Wales was divided between native Welsh principalities and the territories of the Anglo-Norman Marcher lords. The remainder would be granted to Edwards supporters as new Marcher lordships, although the territories would not be effectively incorporated into the Kingdom of England until the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, Edwards conquest marked the end of Welsh independence. However, Welsh principalities such as Gwynedd, Powys and Deheubarth survived and from the end of the 11th century, over the following century the Welsh recovery fluctuated and the English kings, notably Henry II, several times sought to conquer or establish suzerainty over the native Welsh principalities. Nevertheless, by the end of the 12th century the Marcher lordships were reduced to the south and south east of the country, the principality of Gwynedd was the dominant power in Wales in the first half of the 13th century, with Powys and Deheubarth becoming tributary states. Gwynedds princes now assumed the title Prince of Wales, but war with England in 1241 and 1245, followed by a dynastic dispute in the succession to the throne, weakened Gwynedd and allowed Henry III to seize Perfeddwlad. However, from 1256 a resurgent Gwynedd under Llywelyn ap Gruffudd resumed the war with Henry, however, sporadic warfare between Llywelyn and some of the Marcher Lords, such as Gilbert de Clare, Roger Mortimer and Humphrey de Bohun continued. Henry III died in 1272 and was succeeded by his son, whereas Henrys ineffectiveness had led to the collapse of royal authority in England during his reign, Edward was a vigorous and forceful ruler and an able military leader. In 1274, tension between Llywelyn and Edward increased when Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn of Powys and Llywelyns younger brother Dafydd ap Gruffydd defected to the English and sought protection from Edward. Because of the conflict with the Marcher Lords and Edwards harbouring of defectors. For Edward, a further provocation came from Llywelyns planned marriage to Eleanor, daughter of Simon de Montfort, in November 1276, Edward declared war on Llywelyn. However, his objective was to put down a recalcitrant vassal rather than to begin a war of conquest and they met with considerable success as many of the native Welsh rulers, resentful of Llywelyns overlordship, surrendered and joined the English. In July 1277, Edward launched an expedition into North Wales with his own army of 15,500 — of whom 9,000 were Welshmen from the south — raised through a traditional feudal summons. From Chester the army marched into Gwynedd, camping first at Flint and then Rhuddlan and Deganwy, a fleet from the Cinque ports provided naval support. Llywelyn soon realised his position was hopeless and quickly surrendered, the campaign never came to a major battle. However, Edward decided to negotiate a settlement rather than attempt total conquest and it may be that he was running short of men and supplies by November 1277 and, in any case, complete conquest of Llywelyns territories had not been his objective. By the Treaty of Aberconwy in November 1277, Llywelyn was left only with the part of Gwynedd. Eastern Gwynedd was split between Edward and Llywelyns brother Dafydd, with the remainder of the lands that had been tributary to him becoming effectively Edwards, Edwards victory was comprehensive and it represented a major redistribution of power and territory in Wales in Edwards favour

16.
Wales in the Late Middle Ages
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Wales in the Late Middle Ages covers the period from the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in late 1282 to the incorporation of Wales into the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542. After the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, his brother Dafydd ap Gruffydd carried on resistance for a few months and he was captured and executed by hanging, drawing and quartering at Shrewsbury in 1283. King Edward I of England now had control of Wales. The Statute of Rhuddlan was issued from Rhuddlan Castle in north Wales in 1284, the Statute divided parts of Wales into the counties of Anglesey, Merioneth and Caernarvon, created out of the remnants of Llewelyns Gwynedd. It introduced the English common law system, and abolished Welsh law for criminal cases and it allowed the King to appoint royal officials such as sheriffs, coroners, and bailiffs to collect taxes and administer justice. In addition, the offices of justice and chamberlain were created to assist the sheriff, the Marcher Lords retained most of their independence, as they had prior to the conquest. Most of the Marcher Lords were by now Cambro Norman i. e. Norman Welsh through intermarriage. King Edward I built a ring of stone castles to consolidate his the domination of Wales. Wales became, effectively, part of England, even though its people spoke a different language and had a different culture, English kings paid lip service to their responsibilities by appointing a Council of Wales, sometimes presided over by the heir to the throne. This Council normally sat in Ludlow, now in England but at that time part of the disputed border area of the Welsh Marches. Welsh literature, particularly poetry, continued to flourish however, with the lesser nobility now taking over from the princes as the patrons of the poets and bards. Dafydd ap Gwilym who flourished in the middle of the century is considered by many to be the greatest of the Welsh poets. There were a number of rebellions including ones led by Madog ap Llywelyn in 1294-5 and by Llywelyn Bren, Lord of Senghenydd, in 1316-18. In the 1370s the last representative in the line of the ruling house of Gwynedd, Owain Lawgoch. The English government responded to the threat by sending an agent to assassinate Owain in Poitou in 1378, the Black Death arrived in Wales in late 1348. What records survive indicate that about 30% of the population died, in 1400, a Welsh nobleman, Owain Glyndŵr, revolted against King Henry IV of England. Owain inflicted a number of defeats on the English forces and for a few years controlled most of Wales, some of his achievements included holding the first ever Welsh Parliament at Machynlleth and plans for two universities. Eventually the kings forces were able to control of Wales and the rebellion died out. His rebellion caused an upsurge in Welsh identity and he was widely supported by Welsh people throughout the country

17.
Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542
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The intention was to create a single state and legal jurisdiction. The Acts were passed during the reign of King Henry VIII of England, before these Acts, Wales was excluded from Parliamentary representation and divided between the Principality of Wales, and a large number of feudal statelets, the marcher lordships. They are also often cited by the years they received Royal Assent,1536 and 1543 respectively. From the conquest of Gwynedd in 1282–83 until the passing of the Laws in Wales Acts, by the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 the territory of the native Welsh rulers had been broken up into the five counties of Anglesey, Caernarfon, Cardigan, Carmarthen, and Merioneth. Even though the five counties were subject to English criminal law, when Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond seized the English throne in 1485, becoming Henry VII, no change was made to the system of governing Wales. But he remained concerned about the power of the Marcher Lords, to deal with this there was a revival of the Council of Wales and the Marches, which had been established in the reign of Edward IV. After the deaths of many of the Marcher lords during the Wars of the Roses and his solution was the annexation or incorporation of Wales which, along with other significant changes at the same time, led to the creation of England as a modern sovereign state. The Acts have been known as the Acts of Union, but they were not popularly referred to as such until 1901, chrimes regard as misleading, as the Acts were concerned with harmonising laws, not political union. This harmonisation was done by passing a series of measures between 1536 and 1543, the first of these Acts was passed by a Parliament that had no representatives from Wales. Its effect was to extend English law into the Marches and provide that Wales had representation in future Parliaments, the Acts were given their short titles by the Statute Law Revision Act 1948, s.5, sch.2. These measures were not unpopular with the Welsh gentry in particular, the reactions of many of the prominent Welsh of the day and down the centuries were very similar — gratitude that the laws had been introduced and made Wales a peaceful and orderly country. Despite historians such as G. R, a sometimes selectively quoted example of the effects on the Welsh language is the first section of the 1535 Act, which states. The same section then goes on to say that, an effect of this language clause was to lay the foundation for creating a thoroughly Anglicised ruling class of landed gentry in Wales, which would have many consequences. Davies, John, A History of Wales, williams, Glanmor, Renewal and reformation, Wales, c. 1415–1642. Williams, W. Ogwen, The union of England and Wales, in A. J. Roderick, Wales through the ages, volume II, Modern Wales, from 1485 to the beginning of the 20th century, pp. 16–23. Raithby, John, Tomlins, Sir Thomas Edlyne, the statutes at large, of England and of Great Britain, from Magna Carta to the union of the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 3, 1509–53. London, Printed by George Eyre and Andrew Strahan

18.
Geography of Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and is part of the island of Great Britain and offshore islands. It is bordered by England to its east, the Irish Sea to its north and west, and it has a total area of 2,064,100 hectares and is about 170 mi from north to south and at least 60 mi wide. It has a number of islands, by far the largest of which is Anglesey. The mainland coastline, including Anglesey, is about 1,680 mi in length, as of 2014, Wales had a population of about 3,092,000, Cardiff is the capital and largest city and is situated in the urbanised area of South East Wales. Wales has a geological history which has left it a largely mountainous country. The coastal plain is narrow in the north and west of the country but wider in the south, the climate is influenced by the proximity of the country to the Atlantic Ocean and the prevailing westerly winds, thus it tends to be mild, cloudy, wet and windy. Wales is located on the side of central southern Great Britain. To the north and west is the Irish Sea, and to the south is the Bristol Channel, the English counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire lie to the east. Much of the border with England roughly follows the line of the ancient earthwork known as Offas Dyke, the large island of Anglesey lies off the northwest coast, separated from mainland Wales by the Menai Strait, and there are a number of smaller islands. Snowdonia in the northwest has the highest mountains, with Snowdon at 1,085 m being the highest mountain in England, to the south of the main range lie the Arenig Group, Cadair Idris and the Berwyn Mountains. In the northeast of Wales, between the Clwyd Valley and the Dee Estuary, lies the Clwydian Range, the 14 peaks over 3,000 feet, all in Snowdonia, are known collectively as the Welsh 3000s. The Cambrian Mountains run from northeast to southwest and occupy most of the part of the country. These are more rounded and undulating, clad in moorland and rough, the main rivers are the River Dee, part of which forms the boundary between Wales and England, the River Clwyd and the River Conwy, which all flow northwards into Liverpool Bay and the Irish Sea. Further round the coast, the Rivers Mawddach, Dovey, Rheidol, Ystwyth and Teifi flow westwards into Cardigan Bay, parts of the River Severn form the boundary between Wales and England. The length of the coast of mainland Wales is about 1,370 mi, and adding to this the coasts of the Isle of Anglesey and Holy Island, Cardigan Bay is the largest bay in the country and Bala Lake the largest lake at 1.8 sq mi. Other large lakes include Llyn Trawsfynydd at 1.8 sq mi, Lake Vyrnwy at 1.7 sq mi, Llyn Brenig at 1.4 sq mi, Llyn Celyn at 1.2 sq mi, the geology of Wales is complex and varied. The earliest outcropping rocks are from the Precambrian era, some 700 Mya, and are found in Anglesey, the Llŷn peninsula, southwestern Pembrokeshire and in places near the English border. During the Lower Palaeozoic, as seas periodically flooded the land and retreated again, thousands of metres of sedimentary, during the early and middle Ordovician period, volcanic activity increased

19.
Geology of Wales
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The geology of Wales is complex and varied, its study has been of considerable historical significance in the development of geology as a science. All geological periods from the Cryogenian to the Jurassic are represented at outcrops, the effects of two mountain-building episodes have left their mark in the faulting and folding of much of the Palaeozoic rock sequence. South Wales has a record of geological interest going back to the 12th century when Giraldus Cambrensis noted pyritous shales near Newport. George Owen in 1603 correctly identified the relationship between the Carboniferous Limestone and the Coal Measures. Some of the first published representations of fossils were those of plants taken from coal measures near Neath. In the mid-19th century, two prominent geologists, Roderick Murchison and Adam Sedgwick used their studies of the geology of Wales to establish principles of stratigraphy. They did fundamental work on the Old Red Sandstone but are remembered more for their work on the lower Palaeozoic sequence and it was Sedgwick who established the Cambrian system and Murchison first described the Silurian, naming it for the ancient Silures tribe which occupied mid Wales. An overlap between the two systems as mapped led eventually to protracted dispute between the two erstwhile collaborators, after their deaths, Charles Lapworth erected the Ordovician system, to account for the sequence of rocks at the heart of the controversy. More recently two locations in mid Wales have been selected to globally define stages of the Silurian period, similarly Trefawr Track, a forestry road north of Cwm-coed-aeron Farm, Llandovery, is the location of the GSSP marking the boundary between the Rhuddanian and Aeronian stages. Both GSSPs were ratified in 1984. See main articles on Cefn-cerig Road, late Precambrian rocks are widespread on Anglesey, Llŷn and Arfon with other, more restricted occurrences in north Pembrokeshire, Radnorshire and Carmarthenshire. The majority lie on or close to the margins of terranes, however, in recent years there has been a progressive elucidation of the way in which Wales’ many terranes came together during the late Precambrian and the Palaeozoic era. The Stanner-Hanter Complex on the English border comprises volcanic rocks around 700 million years old which puts them within the Cryogenian period, rocks of Cambrian age occur most extensively in an inlier in Merionethshire where the up-arched rocks of the Harlech Dome form the Rhinogs. Cambrian rocks are also to be found in north Pembrokeshire, Anglesey, in Snowdonia many Ordovician volcanic rocks give rise to a more rugged landscape than elsewhere in the country. Snowdon itself is formed of volcanic ash with some sedimentary rock. Cadair Idris is also formed of Ordovician igneous rocks. Anglesey and Llŷn are also Ordovician territory, the Ordovician rocks of Wales are typically intensely faulted and folded, having been affected by the earth movements of the Caledonian Orogeny. A notable feature of the Ordovician system is a major known as the Welsh geosyncline. Much of central Wales is formed in Silurian sandstones and mudstones as is the gentle landscape of central Monmouthshire where the Usk Anticline gives rise to the Usk Inlier

20.
Protected areas of Wales
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Many parts of Wales are protected areas, according to a number of designations. They include three parks, and five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Wales is home to three national parks, snowdonia National Park was established in 1951 as the third National Park in Britain, following the Peak District and the Lake District. It covers 827 square miles, and has 37 miles of coastline, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park is a national park along the Pembrokeshire coast in West Wales. It was established as a National Park in 1952, and is the one in the United Kingdom to have been designated primarily because of its spectacular coastline. It covers an area of 629 square kilometres, five areas of outstanding natural beauty have been designated in Wales, one of which, the Wye Valley AONB, straddles the Anglo-Welsh border. The Gower Peninsula is a peninsula on the south west coast of Wales, referred to colloquially as the Gower, this was the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated as an AONB, in 1956, and covers 188 square kilometres. The Llŷn Peninsula extends 30 miles into the Irish Sea from north west Wales, much of the coastline and the ex-volcanic hills are part of the Llŷn AONB, confirming the peninsula as one of the most scientifically important in both Wales and Britain. The AONB was created in 1956, and covers 155 square kilometres, Anglesey was designated an AONB in 1966, in order to protect the aesthetic appeal and variety of the islands coastal landscape and habitats from inappropriate development. The AONB covers most of Anglesey’s 125 miles coastline, as well as areas, such as Holyhead Mountain. The AONB covers around 221 square kilometres, about a third of the county, the Wye Valley AONB, designated in 1971, is an internationally important protected landscape straddling the border between England and Wales. It is one of the most dramatic and scenic areas in southern Britain. The River Wye is the fifth-longest river in the United Kingdom and it was designated as an AONB in 1985. The Clwydian Range AONB was extended in 2011 to include the hills around Llangollen, including the Eglwyseg escarpment and Llantysilio Mountain, there are fourteen heritage coasts in Wales. They are stretches of outstanding, undeveloped coast in England and Wales, which are not protected by law, Sites notified for their biological interest are known as Biological SSSIs, and those notified for geological or physiographic interest are Geological SSSIs. Many SSSIs are notified for both biological and geological interest, a Special Area of Conservation is defined in the European Unions Habitats Directive, also known as the Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora. They must be chosen from the Sites of Community Importance by the State Members, a Special Protection Area is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds, together with Special Areas of Conservation, the SPAs form a network of protected sites across the EU, called Natura 2000

21.
Politics of Wales
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Politics in Wales forms a distinctive polity in the wider politics of the United Kingdom, with Wales as one of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom. Constitutionally, the United Kingdom is de jure a unitary state with one sovereign parliament and government, as such the National Assembly for Wales is not de jure sovereign. Executive power in the United Kingdom is vested in the Queen-in-Council, the Government of Wales Act 1998 established devolution in Wales, and certain executive and legislative powers have been constitutionally delegated to the National Assembly for Wales. The scope of powers was further widened by the Government of Wales Act 2006. The government of Wales, since 1998, composed of the Welsh National Assembly, Wales, together with Cheshire, used to have Court of Grand Session, and therefore not within the English circuit court system. Yet it has never been its own jurisdiction, before 1998, there was no separate government in Wales. Executive authority rested in the hands of the HM Government, with substantial authority within the Welsh Office since 1965, legislative power rested within the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Judicial power has always been with the Courts of England and Wales, after the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, Wales was treated in legal terms as part of England. The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 stated that all laws applying to England would also be applicable to Wales, however, during the latter part of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century the notion of a distinctive Welsh polity gained credence. In 1881 the Welsh Sunday Closing Act was passed, the first such legislation exclusively concerned with Wales, the Agricultural Council for Wales was set up in 1912, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries had its own Welsh Office from 1919. The campaign for disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Wales, achieved by the passage of the Welsh Church Act 1914, was significant in the development of Welsh political consciousness. Without a popular base, the issue of home rule did not feature as an issue in subsequent General Elections and was eclipsed by the depression. By August 1925 unemployment in Wales rose to 28. 5%, in contrast to the boom in the early 1920s. In the same year Plaid Cymru was formed with the goal of securing a Welsh-speaking Wales, by that time, most UK government departments had set up their own offices in Wales. However, resistance from other elements of the party meant that the machinery of government was not similarly reformed until much later, the post of Minister of Welsh Affairs was first established in 1951, but was at first held by the UK Home Secretary. Further incremental changes also took place, including the establishment of a Digest of Welsh Statistics in 1954, however, further reforms were catalysed partly as a result of the controversy surrounding the flooding of Capel Celyn in 1956. Despite almost unanimous Welsh political opposition the scheme had been approved, Welsh nationalism experienced a modest increase in support, with Plaid Cymru’s share of the vote increasing from 0. 3% in 1951 to 5. 2% by 1959 throughout Wales. The creation of administration devolution effectively defined the territorial governance of modern Wales, labours incremental embrace of a distinctive Welsh polity was arguably catalysed in 1966 when Plaid Cymru president Gwynfor Evans won the Carmarthen by-election

22.
National Assembly for Wales
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The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, the Assembly was created by the Government of Wales Act 1998, which followed a referendum in 1997. The Assembly had no powers to initiate primary legislation until limited law-making powers were gained through the Government of Wales Act 2006, the council had 27 members nominated by local authorities in Wales, the University of Wales, National Eisteddfod Council and the Welsh Tourist Board. A post of Minister of Welsh Affairs was created in 1951 and the post of Secretary of State for Wales, the establishment of the Welsh Office effectively created the basis for the territorial governance of Wales. The Royal Commission on the Constitution was set up in 1969 by Harold Wilsons Labour Government to investigate the possibility of devolution for Scotland and Wales. Its recommendations formed the basis of the 1974 White Paper Democracy and Devolution, proposals for Scotland and Wales, however, voters rejected the proposals by a majority of four to one in a referendum held in 1979. After the 1997 general election, the new Labour Government argued that an Assembly would be more accountable than the Welsh Office. For eleven years prior to 1997 Wales had been represented in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom by a Secretary of State who did not represent a Welsh constituency at Westminster. A second referendum was held on 18 September 1997 in which approved the creation of the National Assembly for Wales by a majority of 559,419 votes. The following year the Government of Wales Act was passed by the United Kingdom parliament, the Richard Commission reported in March 2004. It recommended that the National Assembly should have powers to legislate in certain areas and it also recommended changing the electoral system to the single transferable vote which would produce greater proportionality. In so doing, the Government rejected many of the cross party Richard Commissions recommendations and this has attracted criticism from opposition parties and others. The Government of Wales Act 2006 received Royal Assent on 25 July 2006 and it conferred on the Assembly legislative powers similar to other devolved legislatures through the ability to pass Assembly Measures concerning matters that are devolved. Requests for further legislative powers made through legislative competence requests were subject to the veto of the Secretary of State for Wales, the Act reformed the assembly to a parliamentary-type structure, establishing the Welsh Government as an entity separate from, but accountable to the National Assembly. It enables the Assembly to legislate within its devolved fields, the Act also reforms the Assemblys electoral system. It prevents individuals from standing as candidates in both constituency and regional seats and this aspect of the act was subject to a great deal of criticism, most notably from the Electoral Commission. Plaid Cymru, the Official Opposition in the National Assembly from 1999–2007, many commentators have also criticised the Labour Partys allegedly partisan attempt to alter the electoral system. By preventing regional Assembly Members from standing in constituency seats the party has accused of changing the rules to protect constituency representatives

23.
Elections in Wales
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There are elections to 22 unitary authorities across Wales every four years, most recently on 1 May 2012. The electoral system used is First Past The Post. Key unitary authorities are Cardiff, Newport and Swansea councils, which all lie in the coastal belt. It is based in Cardiff Bay, and there are elections every five years for 60 Assembly Members, the regions are South Wales East, South Wales Central, South Wales West, Mid and West Wales and North Wales. Each region elects four AMs, to achieve approximately proportional representation overall, Wales has been eligible to send MPs to Westminster since the Laws in Wales Act 1535. Between then and 1885, most constituencies were categorised as county or borough constituencies, as the Industrial Revolution took hold there were many calls for reform. Parliament eventually allowed the new towns to vote, and this introduced the first Labour MPs, indeed, the first leader of the Labour Party in Parliament, Keir Hardie, was one of the two MPs for Merthyr Tydfil. The following table shows the composition of Wales Westminster MPs since 1885, Wales is a constituency in European Parliament elections. Elections in the United Kingdom Elections in Scotland

24.
First Minister of Wales
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The First Minister of Wales is the leader of the Welsh Government, Wales devolved administration, which was established in 1999. The official office of the First Minister is in Tŷ Hywel, previously known as Crickhowell House, an office is also kept at the Crown Buildings, Cathays Park, Cardiff. A change of title occurred after the Liberal Democrats formed a government with Labour in the Welsh Assembly in October 2000. The Government of Wales Act 2006 allowed for the post to be known as the First Minister. Until the Government of Wales Act 2006, these were delegated powers of the UK government, since that Act came into force in May 2007, however, the First Minister is appointed by the monarch and represents the Crown in Wales. The First Minister appoints the Welsh Ministers, Deputy Welsh Ministers, following separation between the legislative and the executive on the enactment of the Government of Wales Act 2006, the Welsh Ministers exercise functions in their own right. Any further transfers of functions from the UK Government will be made directly to the Welsh Ministers by an Order in Council approved by Parliament. The First Minister is accountable and responsible for, Exercise of functions by the Cabinet of the Welsh Government, policy development and coordination of policy. The relationships with the rest of the United Kingdom, Europe, staffing/Civil Service On 16 October 2000, during Rhodri Morgans term of office, the post, previously titled First Secretary for Wales, was retitled First Minister of Wales. Deputy First Minister for Wales Welsh Government Dates are from World Statesmen and various BBC News Online articles from 1999 to 2003

25.
Welsh nationalism
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Through most of its history before the Anglo-Norman Conquest, Wales was divided into several kingdoms. From time to time, rulers such as Hywel Dda, Gruffudd ap Llywelyn and Rhodri the Great managed to unify many of the kingdoms, incursions from the English and Normans also amplified divisions between the kingdoms. In the 12th century, Norman king Henry II of England exploited differences between the three most powerful Welsh kingdoms, Gwynedd, Powys, and Deheubarth, allowing him to make gains in Wales. He defeated and then allied with Madog ap Maredudd of Powys in 1157 and he then turned on Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth, who finally submitted to him in 1171, effectively subjugating much of Wales to Henrys Angevin Empire. By 1282, only Gwynedd stood out, whose ruler was accorded the title Prince of Wales, following the defeat of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd by Edward I Wales lost its last independent kingdom and became subject to the English crown, either directly or indirectly. It retained some vestiges of distinction from its neighbour however, retaining the Welsh language, law, until the victory of Henry VII at Bosworth in 1485, the Welsh on many occasions revolted against English rule in an attempt to gain their independence. The greatest such revolt was that of Owain Glyndŵr, who gained support in 1400. In response, the English parliament passed repressive measures that included denying the Welsh the right of assembly, Glyndŵr himself vanished, and his final resting place remains a mystery. Throughout the period of conquest the Welsh poets kept alive the dream of independence, during the reign of Henry VIII the Laws in Wales Acts were passed without any democratic mandate, annexing Wales into the English legal system. The repressive measures against the Welsh that had been in place since the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr over a century earlier were removed and these Acts also gave political representation for Wales in the Westminster Parliament. Wales continues to share an identity with England to a large degree as part of a joint entity known simply as England until 1967 and England. The laws also finished the partitioning of Wales into counties that was begun in 1282, the laws had the effect of making English the language to be used for all official purposes, thus effectively excluding non-English speakers from formal office. Patriotism, or a form of nationalism, remained a strong force in Wales, with pride in its language, customs. Along with the rest of Europe the effects of the French Revolution were felt in Wales and it brought to the forefront a small minority of Welsh people who sympathised with revolutionary ideas, people such as Richard Price, Iolo Morganwg, and Morgan John Rhys. This radicalism was exemplified by the Congregationalist minister David Rees of Llanelli, but he was not a lone voice, William Rees established the radical Yr Amserau in 1843, and in the same year Samuel Roberts also established another radical magazine, Y Cronicl. The growth of radicalism and the politicisation of Welsh life did not include any successful attempt to establish a separate political vehicle for promoting Welsh nationalism. On the contrary Welsh nationalism weakened under the pressure as the coal industry of South Wales increasingly was integrated links with English industry. On the whole nationalism was the preserve of antiquarians not political activists, but voices did appear within the Liberal Party, which made great gains in Wales in the 19th century with the extension of the franchise and the tacit support of Welsh nonconformity

26.
Welsh Office
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The Welsh Office was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Wales, a post which had been created in October 1964. It was disbanded on 1 July 1999 when most of its powers were transferred to the National Assembly for Wales and its responsibilities included Monmouthshire, which for some purposes had earlier been considered by some to lie within England. Wales had been incorporated into the English legal system through the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, legislation specific to Wales, such as the Sunday Closing Act 1881 and the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889, began to be introduced in the late 19th century. The Welsh Board of Health was formed in 1919, and the Welsh Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, a Boundary Commission for Wales was set up under the House of Commons Act 1944. A Council for Wales and Monmouthshire was established in 1949 to monitor the effects of government policy and this post was vested in the Home Secretary until 1957, when it was transferred to the Minister of Housing and Local Government, assisted by a Minister of State. The post of Minister for Welsh Affairs was replaced in 1964 by the office of Secretary of State for Wales, the Welsh Office was created to execute government policy in Wales. The Welsh Language Act 1967 formally dissolved the legislation provided that references made in Parliament to England automatically included Wales, under the Wales. That year it was given responsibility for health and welfare services. During the 1970s, changes in government led to the delegation of additional functions. Most responsibilities for primary and secondary education in Wales, were transferred in 1970, in 1978 it also gained sole responsibility for agriculture and fishery matters in Wales. Following the referendum on Welsh devolution in 1997, the Welsh Office was formally disbanded on 1 July 1999, the cabinet position of Secretary of State for Wales was retained as the head of a newly formed Wales Office. Welsh Office,25 Years BBC documentary programme page

27.
Secretary of State for Wales
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Her Majestys Principal Secretary of State for Wales is the principal minister of Her Majestys Government in the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. They are a member of the cabinet and the head of the Wales Office, the current Secretary of State for Wales is Alun Cairns, following Stephen Crabbs appointment as Work and Pensions Secretary. In the first half of the 20th century, a number of politicians had supported the creation of the post of Secretary of State for Wales as a step towards Home Rule for Wales. A post of Minister of Welsh Affairs was created in 1951 under the Home Secretary and was upgraded to Minister of State level in 1954. The Labour Party proposed the creation of a Welsh Office run by a Secretary of State for Wales in their manifesto for the 1959 general election, when they came to power in 1964 this was soon put into effect. The post of Secretary of State for Wales came into existence on 17 October 1964, the position entailed responsibility for Wales, and expenditure on certain public services was delegated from Westminster. During the 1980s and 1990s, as the number of Conservative MPs for Welsh constituencies dwindled almost to zero, nicholas Edwards, MP for Pembrokeshire, held the post for eight years. On his departure, the government ceased to look within Wales for the Secretary of State, john Redwood in particular caused embarrassment when he publicly demonstrated his inability to sing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, the Welsh national anthem, at a conference. The introduction of the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Government, on 1 July 1999 the majority of the functions of the Welsh Office transferred to the new assembly. The Welsh Office was disbanded, but the post of Secretary of State for Wales was retained, colour key Conservative National Liberal Labour 1 Formerly MP for Pembrokeshire, but represented an English constituency while in office. 2 Formerly MP for Conway, but represented an English constituency while in office,3 Redwood resigned to stand in the 1995 Conservative leadership election. During the election, Hunt acted as Secretary of State,4 Resigned following a moment of madness on Clapham Common. 5 Following Government of Wales Act 1998, held office as inaugural First Secretary for Wales from 12 May 1999

28.
Welsh law
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Welsh law is the primary and secondary legislation generated by the National Assembly for Wales, according to devolved authority granted in the Government of Wales Act 2006. Each piece of Welsh legislation is known as an Act of the Assembly, the first Assembly legislation to be officially proposed was called the NHS Redress Measure 2008. These powers have been effective since May 2007, both the Government of Wales Act 1998 and the Government of Wales Act 2006 set out areas of devolved responsibility for the National Assembly for Wales. The 2006 granted the Assembly legislative competence to make laws in clearly defined matters, once the Queen has approved the Order, the new area of legislative competence is added to Schedule 5, Part 1 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. There is a Counsel General for Wales who oversees the approval and creation of these laws, a referendum under these provisions was held in March 2011 and resulted in a vote in favour of granting the assembly the competence to pass the Acts of the Assembly. Therefore, the Assembly now has the competence to pass Acts of the Assembly in all 20 devolved subjects. This is done to preserve the autonomy of the Welsh Assembly and these areas are subjects where the National Assembly for Wales can make legislation in the form of an Act of the Assembly. The Welsh Assembly was able to make only Assembly Measures, but the Assembly was given the option to call for a referendum, with added approval from the UK Parliament, to make Acts of the Assembly. This would not change much of the Assembly Measures system, and if the referendum should win and it was considered that Assembly Measures are a build on to the Acts of the Assembly if the Assembly would these powers in future. The referendum was held on 3 March 2011, the majority of the participants voted Yes to the question Do you want the Assembly now to be able to make laws on all matters in the 20 subject areas it has powers for. The power to make Acts of the Assembly are called Subjects, English law still apply to Wales under the present devolution settlement. Contemporary Welsh law will govern the local aspects of Welsh life whilst English law will govern the more generic aspects, because these laws are derived from UK Acts of Parliament, some people consider this new system of laws to be another branch of English law. Unlike Scotland, for example, which has its own criminal and civil justice system, the One Wales Labour/Plaid Cymru deal also has an area for devolution of a Criminal and Youth Justice System to this new legal system. It is important to note, that English law still applies in Wales, but it also be important to say that some laws in England. Its possible to say there could be some acts that would be illegal in Wales. For example, using a shock collar on a cat or dog in Wales is illegal. There are Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament that are classed as Wales-only laws, each Act contains provisions for the Welsh Assembly to make subordinate legislation on. Sometimes such Acts can also confer power to the National Assembly for Wales, an example of such a Wales-only law is the Transport Act 2006

29.
Economy of Wales
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The economy of Wales is closely linked with the rest of the United Kingdom and the wider European Economic Area. The modern Welsh economy is dominated by the service sector, in 2000, services contributed 66% to GVA, the manufacturing sector contributed 32%, while agriculture, forestry and fishing together contributed 1. 5%. As in the rest of the United Kingdom, the used in Wales is the pound sterling. The Bank of England is the bank, responsible for issuing currency. Economic output per head has been lower in Wales than in most other parts of the UK for a long time – in 2002 it stood at 90% of the EU25 average. Thus the gap in living standards between Wales and more parts of the UK is not as pronounced. As the capital city of Wales, Cardiff is the engine of growth in the Welsh economy. The city and the adjoining Vale of Glamorgan contribute a high share of economic output in Wales. Cardiff is a centre for white-collar professions, until the mid 18th century, economic development in Wales was restricted by its peripheral location, predominantly upland topography, bad communications and sparse population. The drovers were instrumental in establishing the first banks in Wales, industrial development from the mid 18th century was stimulated by the potential of Wales rich mineral deposits, the arrival of English entrepreneurs and financiers and advances in technology. Metallurgical industries required ever increasing quantities of coal, which was initially mined for this purpose. Although a much smaller industry than coal, the industry in Wales became the worlds largest supplier in the 19th century and had an enduring impact on the landscape of North Wales. At its height in the 1890s, there were dozens of quarries employing around 15,000 men, although they suffered from the boom and bust nature of the construction industry. As most of the workforce were drawn from rural, Welsh-speaking communities, even during a boom period at the start of the 20th century, Wales had a narrow economic base dependent on the labour intensive exploitation of natural resources. The Welsh export economy collapsed during the recession, a victim of increasing protectionism. In the post-war era, the steel and tinplate industries consolidated on a number of larger sites, such as the new works at Port Talbot. Pembrokeshire and Swansea Bay became centres of the industry and new light industry was attracted to locations throughout Wales. In 1971 Sir Julian Hodge founded the Commercial Bank of Wales but the company was taken over by HBOS

30.
Sheep farming in Wales
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Sheep farming is important to the economy of Wales. Much of Wales is rural countryside and sheep are a common feature in the landscape throughout the country. The woollen industry in Wales was a contributor to the national economy. Sheep farms are most often situated in the mountains and moorlands. Sheep are also reared, however, along the south and west coasts of Wales, there are more than 10 million sheep in Wales, and in 2011 sheep farming accounted for 80% of agriculture in Wales. Sheep farming is an ancient husbandry activity in parts of Wales where the climate. The activity is documented from mediaeval times, by which time white sheep probably imported by the Romans had interbred with native dark-fleeced types to produce varieties of Welsh Mountain sheep, initially, sheep were bred for their milk and fleeces, rather than their meat. By the 13th century, sheep farming in Wales had become an industry and source of income, largely from wool. Large flocks of sheep were owned by Cistercian abbeys and monasteries, such as those at Strata Florida, Margam, Basingwerk, the woollen industry in Wales was a major contributor to the national economy, accounting for two-thirds of the nations exports in 1660. However, large-scale sheep rearing on the moors of Wales. In the past, grazing rights were determined by local courts, historically, Welsh sheep were shorn twice in the year. Glamorganshire mountain sheep wandered over the countryside from early times, some being horned, in the 1840s, Youatt described the sheep of Glamorganshire, Some are nearly white, and others are between a dirty white and a perfect black. The fleece weighs about 2 pounds, on the Gelligaer and Eglwysilan mountains the quality of the wool is fine, but on the hills lying on the western side of the Taff valley it is kempy, which deteriorates its value. The breech wool is still more hairy and coarse, Dre-fach Felindre in the Teifi valley became known as the Huddersfield of Wales when the wool industry was prosperous there. In the 1840s, the hills of Montgomeryshire included flocks from the low country, towards the south and west, a smaller white-faced breed was more prevalent while in the north-east a black-faced native breed was found. The breed in the valleys had been improved, principally by sheep from Shropshire, the sheep on the higher grounds weighed about 10 lbs. the quarter, while those in the valleys weighed 12 to 14 lbs. The lambing season at that time was in March and lambs were shorn in August, there were fewer sheep in Denbighshire and Flintshire, particularly in Flintshire, than in any of the other counties, and these were mixed with English breeds. Their weight varied between 10 and 20 lbs. per quarter, and the fleece from 2 to 5 lbs, twenty percent of all agricultural work is made up by sheep farming

31.
Tourism in Wales
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Wales is an emerging tourist destination, with 8,078,900 visitors to National Trust and Welsh Tourist Board destinations in 2002. The industry has been estimated to have a turnover of £3.1 billion. In 2005 tourism contributed to the economy of Wales supporting over 100,000 service-sector jobs, the most popular activities undertaken by tourists in Wales were walking, shopping, hiking in the mountains and visiting historic attractions, museums and galleries. Over 1.1 million trips were made to Wales by overseas tourists in 2006, the main countries of origin of overseas visitors were the Republic of Ireland, the United States and Germany. The majority of tourism however, is other parts of the UK. The capital, Cardiff is the most popular area in Wales for tourists, with 14.6 million visitors in 2009, in 2004, tourists spent the most money in Gwynedd, followed by Conwy and Cardiff. The varied landscape of Wales attracts tourism, there are three national parks, the Brecon Beacons National Park, the Snowdonia National Park and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Popular activities in the parks include hill walking, hiking, canoeing. Wales is also becoming popular for extreme sports, such as surfing, hang gliding. The terrain of Wales has also attracted the World Rally Championship, the Wales Rally GB is held annually. The 2005 Wales Rally GB saw the first WRC stage to be set indoors, in Cardiff, the regenerated Cardiff Bay area is one of the most popular destinations. Wales history and culture also attract tourists, the Museum of Welsh Life, which focuses largely on the industrial past of Wales, is currently the most popular tourist attraction in Wales, attracting over 600,000 visitors annually. The scars of the revolution and Wales industrial heritage can still be seen on parts of the Welsh landscape today. 1.8 million United States citizens are estimated to have Welsh ancestral roots, including presidents, Abraham Lincoln. The Wye Valley witnessed the birth of British tourism in the 18th century, the area became widely known after Observations on the River Wye by the Reverend William Gilpin was published in 1782. The first illustrated tour guide to be published in Britain, it helped locate and enjoy the most picturesque places. Indeed, he records that many regarded the mountainous and wild landscapes as monstrous. Wales is connected to the rest of the United Kingdom by road, rail, the M4 Motorway connects South and West Wales with Southern England and London

32.
Transport in Wales
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Transport in Wales is heavily influenced by the countrys geography. Wales is predominantly hilly or mountainous, and the main settlements lie on the coasts of North and South Wales, the main transport corridors are east-west routes, many continuing eastwards into England. Wales railway network developed in conjunction with that of the rest of the United Kingdom during the nineteenth century, the North Wales Coast Line and South Wales Main Line sought to profit from traffic between London and Ireland. Numerous railways were built to export coal and iron from South Wales, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, tourism was booming and railways served resorts such as Llandudno, Barry Island and locations along the Cambrian Coast Line. The network was rationalised during the century, with mainly east-west routes retained. As a result, the network within Wales is no longer contiguous. Devolution led to the formation of a franchise for Wales in 2003. This franchise, which includes some lines in England for completeness, is currently operated by Arriva Trains Wales. As rail usage has grown during the past decades, several lines have seen rail services reintroduced, including the Cardiff City Line, the Vale of Glamorgan Line. As of 2008, there are 923 miles of railways in Wales. Arriva Trains Wales operate all mainline services wholly within Wales and these range from rural lines such as the Welsh Marches Line to the Cardiff commuter lines, and long distance routes between North and South Wales, via Chester, Wrexham and Shrewsbury. They also operate services from Wales to Manchester, Crewe, Birmingham, services to London are operated by First Great Western and Virgin Trains. First Great Western also operate services from Cardiff to Portsmouth via Bristol, Bath and Southampton, the bulk of rail transport in Wales today is concentrated in the south with Cardiff Central, Cardiff Queen Street, Newport, Swansea and Bridgend being the busiest stations. Most passengers travel on east-west routes, in 2005/06, there were approximately 20.1 million rail passenger journeys beginning or ending in Wales, including 13 million starting and ending in Wales. Cardiff was the destination for almost 40 per cent of these journeys, in the north, the bulk of rail travel is concentrated around Wrexham General, Wrexham Central and Llandudno Junction to Chester section. The main South Wales Main Line and the central Valley Lines are being electrified, the only form of commuter rail system in Wales is the Valley Lines network serving Cardiff and the South Wales valleys, serving 20 stations in Cardiff and 61 stations in the surrounding area. Train frequency at the core of the network is up to every 5 minutes, the only surviving tram service within Wales is the Great Orme Tramway, a cable hauled tramway in Llandudno which survives as a tourist attraction. Cardiff, Swansea and Newport had extensive tram systems until the mid 20th century, plans were mooted for a modern tram system to serve Cardiffs urban areas in late 1990s but these were shelved due to the costs of building and maintaining such a system

33.
Demography of Wales
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Demographics of Wales include the numbers in population, place of birth, age, ethnicity, religion, and number of marriages. The population of Wales doubled from 587,000 in 1801 to 1,163,000 in 1851 and had reached 2,421,000 by 1911. Most of the came in the coal mining districts especially Glamorganshire. Part of this increase can be attributed to the demographic transition seen in most industrialising countries during the Industrial Revolution, as death-rates dropped, however, there was also a large-scale migration of people into Wales during the industrial revolution. The resident population of Wales in 2011 increased by 5% since 2001 to 3,063,456, of whom 1,504,228 are men and 1,559,228 women, Wales accounted for 4. 8% of the UK population in 2011. The population in 1972 stood at 2.74 million and remained static for the rest of the decade. However, in the early 1980s, the population due to net migration out of Wales. Since the 1980s, net migration has generally positive, and has contributed more to population growth than natural change. According to the 2011 census 2.2 million of the residents were born in Wales. In 2001,590,000 of the population of Wales was born in England, by 2011, the proportion of English-born citizens of Wales had increased by one percent to 21%. In 2011, 27% of the population of Wales were born outside Wales. Below are the 5 largest foreign-born groups in Wales according to 2014 ONS estimates, according to the 2011 census, some 563,000 of the population were aged 65 and over, an increase of 56,700 or one percent since 2001. As in 2001, six per cent of the population in Wales were children under five, the change can be attributed to both international and internal migration. In 2001,590,000 of the population of Wales was born in England, in 2011, this had increased by one percent. Nearly 418,000 people identified themselves as Welsh in 2001.1 million stated their religion as Christian and it is the only group to have experienced a decrease in numbers between 2001 and 2011 despite population growth. The second largest response group for this question in 2011 was no religion and this increased from 538,000 of residents in 2001 to 983,000 in 2011, a larger rise than in any region of England. The 2011 census collected information about English and Welsh language proficiency, in 2011,2.9 million of residents, age three and over, spoke English or Welsh. In a further 18,000 households, at least one adult spoke English or Welsh, in 22,000 households, no resident spoke either language

34.
Education in Wales
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Education in Wales differs in certain respects from education elsewhere in the United Kingdom. And additional 10% attend schools which had a significant portion of the curriculum is bilingual, the study of the Welsh language is available to all age groups through nurseries, schools, colleges and universities and in adult education. The study of the language is compulsory for all pupils in State Schools until the age of 16, Education researcher David Reynolds claims that policy in Wales is driven by a producerist paradigm emphasising collaboration between educational partners. He also alludes to lower funding in Welsh schools compared to England and he concludes that performance data does not suggest that Wales has improved more rapidly than England, although there are considerable difficulties in making these kinds of assessments. A childs age on 1 September determines the point of entry into the relevant stage of education, Education is compulsory beginning with the term following the childs fifth birthday, but may take place at either home or school. In 2014/15, there were 1,330 primary schools in Wales with 273,400 pupils and 12,240 full-time equivalent teachers, the teacher/pupil ratio was 1,22 and the average class size was 26 pupils. In the same year, there were 13 nursery schools in with 1,076 pupils and 43 full-time equivalent teachers, in 2015/16, there were 276,950 pupils in 1,310 primary schools - a rise of 3,550 since 2014/15. In 2008 a unique new curriculum - the Foundation phase - was rolled out to all schools in Wales and it began for 3- to 4-year-olds and by 2011 is in place for 3- to 7-year-olds. It is based on learning, in small groups, with a teacher ratio of 1,8 for the youngest ages. In 2014/15, there were 435 Welsh-medium primary schools with 65,460 pupils, rising from 64,366 in 2013/14, pupils in secondary school take part in the compulsory GCSE and the non-compulsory A-level or BTEC qualifications at age 16 and 18 respectively. Since 2007 the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification has also been available as an option although it was ungraded until 2014, in 2014/15 there were 207 secondary schools in Wales with 182,408 pupils and 11,269 FTE teachers. The pupil/teacher ratio was 17,1, which has remained largely the same since 2000/01, in 2015/16, there were 178,650 pupils in 205 secondary schools - a drop of 3,700 since 2014/15. The same report found that in 2015/16, there were 8,000 pupils in 34 independent schools,4,540 pupils in 32 independent special schools, in 2014/15, there were 50 Welsh-medium secondary schools with 36,485 pupils, dropping from 37,400 in 2013/14. In the same year, there were 4 Welsh-medium middle schools with 2,448 pupils, in 2016, 60/3% of Year 11 pupils achieved the Level 2 inclusive threshold. 35. 6% of pupils eligible for FSM achieved the L2 inclusive threshold,66. 9% of pupils achieved A*-C in maths. 70. 4% of pupils achieved A*-C in either English or Welsh first language, further education includes full- and part-time learning for people over compulsory school age, excluding higher education. Colleges vary in size and mission, and include general FE, tertiary and specialist institutions, including one Roman Catholic Sixth Form College, many colleges offer leisure learning and training programmes designed to meet the needs of business. In 2014/15 there were 263,315 FE students in Wales spanning the entire availability of FE at multiple placements, including FE, HE, LA Community, adult Community learning is a form of adult education or lifelong learning delivered and supported by local authorities in Wales

35.
Languages of Wales
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The two official languages of Wales are Welsh and English. The majority of the population of Wales is able to speak English, English is widely used throughout the country and is the native language of most people in the South and the North East of the country, in the West and North, Welsh is the dominant native language. Nevertheless, there are a number of communities throughout the country to which these generalisations do not apply, for example, despite being located in the overwhelmingly English-speaking city of Swansea, 45% of Mawrs residents speak Welsh as their native language. According to the 2011 census, Welsh is spoken by 19% of the population, Welsh English or Anglo-Welsh is the distinct form of English used in Wales. Aside from lexical borrowings from Welsh like bach, eisteddfod, nain and taid, examples of this include the use by some speakers of the tag question isnt it. Regardless of the form of the statement and the placement of the subject. Fed up, I am or Running on Friday, he is In South Wales the word where may often be expanded to where to, as in the question, the word butty is used to mean friend or mate. It was spoken by the Kale group of the Romani people who arrived in Britain during the 15th century, the first record of Gypsies in Wales comes from the 16th century. Welsh-Romani is one of the many Northern Romani dialects and this dialect of Romany includes some loanwords from Welsh, but little now remains of it. Wales deaf community tends to use British Sign Language, there are a few signs used in Wales which are unique to that country, but these tend to be regionalised rather than national. Other sign languages in use in Wales include Makaton, and Signed English, Latin is also used to a limited degree in certain official mottos, legal terminology, and various ceremonial contexts. Latin abbreviations can also be seen on British coins, the use of Latin has declined greatly in recent years. At one time, Latin and Greek were commonly taught in British schools ), in rare cases, Norman French and Latin have contributed to Welsh toponymy e. g. Beaumaris, Grace Dieu, Strata Florida and Valle Crucis. The Welsh language prefix Caer- is a corruption of the Latin castra, both of the placename elements in Caerleon come ultimately from Latin. Latin has had a significant influence on Welsh in words such as ffenestr and pont, meaning window and bridge respectively. Notable Welsh writers in Latin include Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wrote Historia Regum Britanniae, and Adam of Usk, author of Chronicon Adæ de Usk, people migrating to Wales in recent decades have brought many more languages to the country. South Asians in the United Kingdom speak dozens of different languages, the largest subgroup of British Asians are those of Punjabi origin, from both India and Pakistan. There is a long established Somali community in Cardiff, and Irish speakers have been coming and going from Wales for many centuries, there are Irish communities in most industrial areas, plus Holyhead, Swansea and Cardiff

36.
History of the Welsh language
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The history of the Welsh language spans over 1400 years, encompassing the stages of the language known as Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. Welsh evolved from British, the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Britons, alternatively classified as Insular Celtic or P-Celtic, it probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and was probably spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth. During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, evolving into Welsh and it is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Kenneth H. Jackson suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern was complete by around 550, Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to the Cynfeirdd or Early Poets – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was composed in the Hen Ogledd, raising further questions about the dating of the material. The next main period, somewhat better attested, is Old Welsh, the Book of Aneirin and the Poetry, or Book, of Taliesin belong to this era, though both also include some poems originally written in Primitive Welsh. Middle Welsh is the attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries. This is the language of all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts, Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible, albeit with some work, to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The famous cleric Gerald of Wales tells a story of King Henry II of England, Modern Welsh can be divided into two periods. The first, Early Modern Welsh ran from the early 15th century to roughly the end of the 16th century, late Modern Welsh began with the publication of William Morgans translation of the Bible in 1588. Of course, many changes have occurred since then, the language enjoyed a further boost in the 19th century, with the publication of some of the first complete and concise Welsh dictionaries. Early work by Welsh lexicographic pioneers such as Daniel Silvan Evans ensured that the language was documented as accurately as possible, Modern dictionaries such as the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, are direct descendants of these dictionaries. In spite of this boost, the use of Welsh was actively discouraged at school under the Welsh Not policy, a stick or plaque was given to any child heard speaking Welsh during school, to be handed on to whoever next spoke the language. The influx of English workers during the Industrial Revolution in Wales from about 1800 led to a dilution of the Welsh-speaking population of Wales. English migrants seldom learnt Welsh and their Welsh colleagues tended to speak English in mixed Welsh–English contexts. The legal status of Welsh was inferior to that of English, an important exception, however, was in the non-conformist churches, which were strongly associated with the Welsh language

37.
Welsh English
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Welsh English refers to the dialects of English spoken in Wales by Welsh people. The dialects are influenced by Welsh grammar and often include words derived from Welsh. In addition to the words and grammar, a variety of accents are found across Wales, including those of north Wales, the Cardiff dialect. In the east and south east, it has influenced by West Country dialects due to immigration, while in North Wales. The vowel of cat /æ/ is pronounced as a more central near-open front unrounded vowel, in Cardiff, bag is pronounced with a long vowel. In Powys, a pronunciation resembling its New Zealand and South African analogue is sometimes heard, the uncertainty over which vowel to use often leads to hypercorrections involving the schwa, e. g. programme is often pronounced /ˈproː. e. A lowered close-mid front rounded vowel Most other long monophthongs are similar to that of Received Pronunciation, but words with the RP /əʊ/ are sometimes pronounced as, examples of this include the use by some speakers of the tag question isnt it. Regardless of the form of the statement and the placement of the subject. Fed up, I am or Running on Friday, he is, in South Wales the word where may often be expanded to where to, as in the question, Where to is your Mam. The word tidy has been described as One of the most over-worked Wenglish words and can have a range of meanings including - fine or splendid, long, decent, a tidy swill is a wash involving at least face and hands. Spellings are almost identical to other dialects of British English, minor differences occur with words descended from Welsh that are not anglicised unlike in many other dialects of English. In Wales, the valley is always cwm, not the Anglicised version coombe, as with other dialects of British English, -ise endings are preferred, realise instead of realize. David Crystal, who grew up in Holyhead, claims that the dominance of English in Wales is little different from its spread elsewhere in the world. While other British English accents have affected the accents of English in Wales, in particular, Scouse and Brummie accents have both had extensive Anglo-Welsh input through migration, although in the former case, the influence of Anglo-Irish is better known. Anglo-Welsh literature and Welsh writing in English are terms used to describe works written in the English language by Welsh writers and it has been recognised as a distinctive entity only since the 20th century. A rival claim for the first Welsh writer to use English creatively is made for the poet, John Clanvowe. In the UK TV series Thomas & Friends, the Narrow Gauge Engines Skarloey, Rheneas, Sir Handel, Peter Sam and Duke speak with Welsh Dialect, the Welsh comedy-drama series Stella is set in a fictional South Wales valley where Welsh English can be heard throughout. – Listen to examples of regional accents and dialects from across the UK on the British Librarys Sounds Familiar website Talk Tidy, John Edwards, Author of books and CDs on the subject Wenglish

38.
Welsh people
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The Welsh people or the Welsh are a nation and ethnic group native to, or otherwise associated with, Wales and the Welsh language. Prior to the 20th century, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh, the term Welsh people applies to people from Wales and people of Welsh ancestry perceiving themselves or being perceived as sharing a cultural heritage and shared ancestral origins. Over 300,000 Welsh people live in London, the same etymological origin is shared by the names of various other Celtic or Latin peoples such as the Walloons and the Vlachs, as well as of the Swiss canton of Valais. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. They thus carry a sense of land of fellow-countrymen, our country, the word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century. It is attested in a poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. During their time in Britain, the ancient Romans encountered tribes in present-day Wales that they called the Ordovices, the Demetae, the Silures and the Deceangli. The people of what is now Wales were not distinguished from the rest of the peoples of southern Britain, all were called Britons and spoke the common British language, a Brythonic Celtic tongue. Celtic language and culture seems to have arrived in Britain during the Iron Age, the claim has also been made that Indo-European languages may have been introduced to the British Isles as early as the early Neolithic, with Goidelic and Brythonic languages developing indigenously. The genetic evidence in this case would show that the change to Celtic languages in Britain may have occurred as a cultural rather than through migration as was previously supposed. The assumed genetic imprint of Neolithic incomers is seen as a cline, with stronger Neolithic representation in the east of Europe, when the Roman legions departed Britain around 400, a Romano-British culture remained in the areas the Romans had settled, and the pre-Roman cultures in others. According to Stephen Oppenheimer 96% of lineages in Llangefni in north Wales derive from Iberia, Genetic marker R1b averages from 83–89% amongst the Welsh. The people in what is now Wales continued to speak Brythonic languages with additions from Latin, the surviving poem Y Gododdin is in early Welsh and refers to the Brythonic kingdom of Gododdin with a capital at Din Eidyn and extending from the area of Stirling to the Tyne. John Davies places the change from Brythonic to Welsh between 400 and 700, offas Dyke was erected in the mid-8th century, forming a barrier between Wales and Mercia. The genetic tests suggested that between 50% and 100% of the population of what was to become England was wiped out. In 2001, research for a BBC programme on the Vikings suggested a strong link between the Celts and Basques, dating back tens of thousands of years. The UCL research suggested a migration on a huge scale during the Anglo-Saxon period and it appears England is made up of an ethnic cleansing event from people coming across from the continent after the Romans left, said Dr Mark Thomas, of the Centre for Genetic Anthropology at UCL

39.
Culture of Wales
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Wales has a distinctive culture including its own language, customs, holidays and music. Wales is primarily represented by the symbol of the red Welsh Dragon, building on the construction in Wales during the Roman era of occupation, these early kingdoms were also influenced by Ireland, but precise details are unclear prior to the 8th century AD. Several Kingdoms arose at that time, including Gwynedd, Powys, gruffydd was killed by his own men on 5 August 1063 while Harold Godwinson sought to engage him in battle. This was just over three years before the Norman invasion of England, which led to a change of fortune for Wales. By 1070, the Normans had already seen successes in their invasion of Wales with Gwent fallen, the invasion was seemingly complete by 1093. However, the Welsh rebelled against their new overlords the following year, while Gwynedd grew in strength, Powys was broken up after the death of Llywelyn ap Madog in the 1160s and was never reunited. Llywelyn the Great rose in Gwynedd and had reunited the majority of Wales by his death in 1240, after his death, King Henry III of England intervened to prevent Dafydd ap Llywelyn from inheriting his fathers lands outside Gwynedd, leading to war. The claims of his successor, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, conflicted with those of King Edward I of England, maredudds son, Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur, anglicised his name to become Owen Tudor, and was the grandfather of Henry Tudor. Henry took the throne of England following the Wars of the Roses when his forces defeated those of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. The House of Tudor continued to reign through several successive monarchs until 1603, official symbols of Wales include the Welsh Dragon, daffodil and leek. Both the dragon and leek date back to the 7th century and he also introduced the Red Dragon standard, although this symbol was most likely introduced to the British Isles by Roman troops. It may also have been a reference to the 6th century Welsh word draig, the standard was appropriated by the Normans during the 11th century, and used for the Royal Standard of Scotland. Richard I of England took a red dragon standard with him on the Third Crusade, the colours of the leek were used for the uniforms of soldiers under Edward I of England. Both symbols were popular with Tudor kings, with Henry VII of England adding the white and it was largely forgotten by the House of Stuart, who favoured a unicorn instead. By the 17th and 18th centuries, it common practice in Great Britain for the gentry to wear leeks on St. Davids Day. In 1807, a a red dragon passant standing on a mound was made the Kings badge for Wales, following an increase in nationalism in 1953, it was proposed to add the motto Y ddraig goch ddyry cychwyn to the flag. This was poorly received, and six years later Queen Elizabeth II intervened to put the current flag in place, the daffodil is a more recent development, becoming popular during the 19th century. It may have linked to the leek, as the Welsh for daffodil translates as St Peters Leek

40.
Welsh art
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Welsh art refers to the traditions in the visual arts associated with Wales and its people. Most art found in, or connected with, Wales is essentially a variant of the forms and styles of the rest of the British Isles. In 2011 faint scratchings of a speared reindeer were found on a wall on the Gower peninsula which probably date to 12, 000–14,000 BC. The Mold Gold Cape, also in the British Museum, many works of Iron Age Celtic art have been found in Wales. and the finds from the period shortly before and after the Roman conquest, which reached Wales in AD 74-8, are especially significant. The Abergavenny Leopard Cup, from the decades after the conquest, was found in 2003, there are only fragments of the architecture of the period remaining. Little metalwork survives from the period of the 5th–9th centuries in Wales. However, archaeological sites at Dinas Powys have revealed various artifacts such as penannular brooches, similar brooches have been discovered a site at Penycorddyn-mawr, near Abergele, dating to the 8th century. During this period, the construction of Holy wells was also commonplace in Wales. There are a number of monastic ruins, Welsh medieval churches are nearly all relatively modest. They very often had wall-paintings, panel altarpieces and much other religious art, conwy, an English garrison town with its medieval walls almost entirely intact, has a notable example of a 13th-century medieval stone town-house. Peter Lord suggests that the Renaissance began in Wales around 1400, much of the art produced in this period was created in or for the church. Strata Florida Abbey, for example, retains some of its medieval decorated tiles, despite the widespread destruction that took place during the Reformation and later the Commonwealth, a number of Welsh churches retain fragments of medieval stained glass. The wall paintings at Llancarfan are said to be beyond compare in Wales, Wales has numerous country houses from all periods after the Elizabethan, many still containing good portraits, but these were mostly painted in London or on the Continent. The portrait was commissioned by her husband, Sir Richard Clough, Clough himself died before he could bring his wife to the new house he had built for her. William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, was one of the first Welsh nobles known to have collected paintings on a large scale. A portrait of him, dating from the 1560s, is held by the National Museum of Wales, it is attributed to Steven van Harwijck, later, artisan painters such as William Roos and Hugh Hughes began to seek portrait commissions. Rooss 1835 portrait of preacher Christmas Evans is held by the National Museum of Wales, the Welsh painter Richard Wilson is arguably the first major British landscapist, but rather more notable for Italian scenes than Welsh ones, although he did paint several on visits from London. He returned to live in Wales on inheriting the family estate, Early works tended to see the Welsh mountains through the prism of the 17th century Italianate wild landscapes of Salvator Rosa and Gaspard Dughet

41.
Eisteddfod
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In Welsh culture, an eisteddfod is a Welsh festival of literature, music and performance. The current format owes much to an 18th-century revival arising out of a number of informal eisteddfodau, the closest English equivalent to eisteddfod is session, the word is formed from two Welsh morphemes, eistedd, meaning sit, and bod, meaning be. In some countries, the term eisteddfod is used for types of performing arts competitions that have nothing to do with Welsh culture. The date of the first eisteddfod is a matter of debate among scholars. These judging boards had probably derived from ancient Celtic bardic traditions, the first recorded eisteddfod was held under the auspices of The Lord Rhys at Cardigan Castle in 1176. There he held a gathering to which were invited poets and musicians from all parts of Wales, a chair at the Lords table was awarded to the best poet and musician, a tradition that prevails in the modern day National Eisteddfod. The earliest large-scale eisteddfod that is known is the Carmarthen Eisteddfod in 1451 under Thomas ap Gruffydd of Llandeilo. The next recorded large-scale eisteddfod was held in Caerwys in 1568, the prizes awarded were a miniature silver chair to the successful poet, a little silver crwth to the winning fiddler, a silver tongue to the best singer, and a tiny silver harp to the best harpist. Originally, the contests were limited to professional Welsh bards who were paid by the nobility, in the 16th century, Elizabeth I of England commanded that the bards be examined and licensed to ensure performance standards. But interest in the Welsh arts declined during the 17th and 18th centuries, gatherings also became more informal, poets would often meet in taverns and open spaces and have assemblies of rhymers. These meetings kept traditions alive, the winners even still received a chair, a chair was a prized award because of its perceived social status. Throughout the medieval period, high-backed chairs with arm rests were reserved for royalty and high-status leaders in military, religious, as most ordinary people sat on stools until the 1700s, an armchair conveyed status to a winning bard. In 1789, Thomas Jones organised an eisteddfod in Corwen, where for the first time the public were admitted, the success of this event led to a revival of interest in Welsh literature and music. The earliest known surviving Bardic chair made specifically for an Eisteddfod was built in Carmarthen in 1819, iolo Morganwg founded Gorsedd Beirdd Ynys Prydain in 1792 to restore and replace the ancient eisteddfod. The first eisteddfod of the revival was held on Primrose Hill, the Gentlemans Magazine of October 1792 reported on the revival of the eisteddfod tradition. This being the day on which the autumnal equinox occurred, some Welsh bards resident in London assembled in congress on Primrose Hill, according to ancient usage. The Blue Books notorious attack on the character of the Welsh as a nation in 1846 led to public anger, by the 1850s people began to talk of a national eisteddfod to showcase Waless culture. In 1858 John Williams ab Ithel held a National Eisteddfod complete with Gorsedd in Llangollen, the great Llangollen Eisteddfod of 1858 was a significant event

Wales ((listen); Welsh: Cymru [ˈkəmri] (listen)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of …

Britain in AD 500: The areas shaded pink on the map were inhabited by the CelticBritons, here labelled Welsh. The pale blue areas in the east were controlled by Germanic tribes, whilst the pale green areas to the north were inhabited by the Gaels and Picts.

George Herbert's "Easter Wings", a pattern poem in which the work is not only meant to be read, but its shape is meant to be appreciated. In this case, the poem was printed (original image here shown) on two facing pages of a book, sideways, so that the lines suggest two birds flying upward, with wings spread out.

Theatre in Wales includes dramatic works in both the Welsh language and English language. Actors from Wales have also …

Remains of the Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon, perhaps the oldest purpose built theatrical space in Wales

Savoy Theatre, Monmouth: "The Savoy Theatre occupies what has been called the oldest theatre site in Wales, dating back to Elizabethan times. In 1927 the building was restored and opened as 'The New Picture House', and the first talking picture was shown in 1930"